Gum Nanse

Gum was born in Busan, is the son of Suhyun Gum who was a composer and music educator. He studied music at Seoul Arts High School and studied musical composition at Seoul National University. He also studied conducting at the Universität der Künste in Berlin under Prof. Hans-Martin Rabenstein.

Karajan Conductors' Competition in 1977. Gum Nanse(left), Valery Gergiev(middle), Jacek Kaspszyk(right)

In 1977, Gum was one of the prize winners (4th prize) at the ‘Herbert von Karajan Conductor's Competition and was the first Korean conductor to be given an opportunity to conduct Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Since returning home in 1980, he was appointed as the conductor of KBS Symphony Orchestra for 12 years.

In 1992, he moved to Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra was a struggling ensemble and had difficulties attracting audiences to their concerts. Gum concentrated on improving the quality of the performance and on refreshing orchestra's image.

While he was in Suwon, Gum organized a series of special concerts with Suwon Philharmonic such as ‘7-hour Marathon Concert' and 'New Year's Eve Concert at Seoul Arts Center'. Also, Gum began a new educative concert series for young students in collaboration with Seoul Arts Center in 1994 titled, 'Young People's Concerts with Gum Nanse'. The concerts were particularly popular among young students and the concerts remained sold-out for six consecutive years from 1994 to 1999.

During Gum's appointment as artistic director, Suwon Philharmonic's number of concerts increased from about 10 concerts per year to more than 60 concerts per year. Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra’s turnaround soon gathered media’s attention and in 1995, Samsung Electronics(headquartered in Suwon) built a new outdoor concert hall and rehearsal facilities for Suwon City and Suwon Philharmonic. Samsung Electronics also sponsored Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra for five years and its overseas tours in US, Canada, UK, Spain, Thailand (for 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok) for three years.

Since 1997, Gum has been primarily engaged in the activities of Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra (now, New World Philharmonic Orchestra) which he founded. Apart from New World Philharmonic, he served as the Artistic Director of Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra (2006-10) and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra (2010-14) consecutively.

Conductor Gum Nanse and Camerata S at Salle de Musique de Chambre, Luxembourg in 2013

In interviews, Gum often stresses that classical musicians should be "proactive and extend their talents to the audience regardless of venues". As an example, Gum gave a series of symphonic concerts in the lobby of POSCO Center(POSCO’s main headquarters building in Seoul) since 1999. In the lobby of POSCO Center, Gum and Euro-Asian Philharmonic gave concerts with programs that included complete Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms Symphonies.

In recent years, Gum has been active as a festival director. Notably he founded the 'Music Isle Festival in Jeju’ (since 2005) and the 'Manhattan Chamber Music Festival’ (since 2012). The 'Music Isle Festival in Jeju’ joined the European Festivals Association(EFA) in 2010.

Gum is Principal of Seoul Arts High School (Seoul Yego) and regularly conducts Korea United College Orchestra (KUCO) which consists of non-music major students from 25 universities nationwide. He also conducts Korea Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO) which consists of young, amateur music-loving adolescents from 25 small provincial towns once a year.

Currently, Gum is artistic director of Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra and Hankyung Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2015, Gum was also appointed as the Principal Guest Conductor of Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

As of now, Maestro Gum Nanse holds the positions of below

• Artistic Director & Conductor of New World Philharmonic Orchestra - since 1997
• Artistic Director & Conductor of Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra - since 2015
• Artistic Director & Conductor of Hankyung Philharmonic - since 2015
• Principal Guest Conductor of Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra - since 2015
• President of Seoul Arts High School (Seoul Yego) - since 2013
• Artistic Director of Raum Art Center - since 2012
• Artistic Director of Manhattan Chamber Music Festival - since 2012
• Artistic Director of Jeju Music Isle Festival - since 2005
• Artistic Director of Busan Chamber Music Festival - since 2014
• Artistic Director of Euro-Asian Music Festival - since 2015
• Artistic Director of Korea United College Orchestra (KUCO) - since 2010
• Artistic Director of Korea Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO) - since 2011
• Chairman of Korea Orchestra Association (KOA) - since 2011

• 1977 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductor's Competition
• 1995 Order of Culture Merit “Og-Gwan”
• 1999 Grand Prize of Korea Music Critics Association
• 2008 Honorary Doctorate Degree from Keimyung University
• 2009 Grand Prize of Performing Arts Management Association of Korea
• 2010 Hyoryung Prize – Cultural sector
• 2011 Presidential Prize of Sejong Cultural Award – Cultural Sector

• 2010. 5. 19 MBC <황금어장-무릎팍도사>
• 2011 KBS Prime <Kids Classic Audition> / <키즈 클래식 오디션>
• 2012 KBS <Man's Qualification> Season 3 - Family Choir / <남자의 자격> 시즌 3 - 패밀리 합창단
• 2012. 12. 4 KBS <Kim Seungwoo's WinWin> - Episode 140 / <김승우의 승승장구> - 140회
• 2014-2015 tvN <Always Cantare> Season 1, 2 / <언제나 칸타레> 시즌 1,2

• 《나는 작은새, 금난새》 Design House, 1996-12-31 ISBN 9788970410722
• 《금난새의 클래식 여행》 Think Tree, 2003-9-30 ISBN 9788984982840
• 《금난새의 클래식 여행 1》 Think Tree, 2006-10 ISBN 9788984986190
• 《금난새의 클래식 여행 2》 Think Tree, 2006-10 ISBN 9788984987098
• 《내가 사랑한 교향곡》 Think Tree, 2008-12-23 ISBN 9788984989238
• 《모든 가능성을 지휘하라》 Yaekyung, 2015-3-2 ISBN 9788970845272